HIROHITO’S RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE END OF WORLD WAR II

FEBRUARY 14TH 1945 - THE DAY THE WAR IN ASIA COULD HAVE ENDED!

World War II could have ended in February 1945 – even before the Germans surrendered in May – read on……

DID YOU KNOW? - February 14, 2015 is the seventieth anniversary of the day that the senior Japanese statesman Prince Konoe Fumimaro presented a report to Hirohito in which he told the emperor that after a continuous string of defeats the war was irrevocably lost and that he should surrender unconditionally immediately.

Hirohito’s fateful negative response was that they were going to try one more time and then see what happened, and on February 16th - just two days later, the Americans launched their attack on Iwo Jima. This was followed by the Battle of Okinawa which commenced six weeks later on April 1st. On June 23 that battle ended, and more than 77,000 Japanese soldiers and almost 150,000 Okinawan civilians had died following this decision by the emperor.

Confirmed by documents beyond any doubt was the emperor’s stubborn insistence on delaying surrender when defeat was clearly inevitable. The subsequent fire-bombing of Japanese cities which took place through March and April, and the atomic destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki followed as fateful consequences of his decision to postpone surrender. So the Japanese people should not blame the US and its Allies for the destruction of their country and the terrible loss of life, but rather their own emperor!

Critical historic works show that from the start of his reign in 1926 Hirohito was not a pacifist and simple monarch, but rather a dynamic activist and leader who was very pro-active in the military affairs of Japan.

In case anyone is in doubt - it was Hirohito who was responsible for commanding and leading Japan’s war efforts. It is well known that he participated in guiding the war in China from 1937 onward, and later joined the war party selecting Gen. Hideki Tojo as prime minister in October 1941, and thereafter expanding the China conflict to the vast Asia-Pacific region in December of that year. He personally ordered the attacks on Pearl Harbor, Hong Kong, Malaya, Singapore and subsequently the rest of SE Asia.

Above: Hirohito (centre) plotting war strategy with his generals.

Right: On his favorite horse reviewing the Japanese troops.

He alone was supreme commander of the armed forces, directly commanding the army and navy. He was chief priest of the State Shinto religion, superintendent of all the powers of sovereignty, and the nation’s teacher of morality. In addition, the constitution gave priority to his imperial will rather than the Cabinet’s, so he had total and complete control of the government as well as the military. Hirohito knew quite well he was not a living deity, but thought it good if the people - and especially his armed forces, believed he was. That way they would obey his wishes fanatically.

It is sad to think that several million Japanese soldiers and civilians had to die in the six months following the emperor's fateful decision to postpone the surrender, when all the death and destruction that followed during that time could have been avoided.

Now the current Right Wing Japanese government and some modern western revisionists are trying to propagate the myth that Hirohito was just a puppet emperor and a pacifist, and had nothing to do with Japan's war efforts. How sad that due to political correctness, fear of offending the Japanese and for whatever other reasons, the truth of history is once again being distorted.